Stakeout
by The One With A Name
Summary: Is this war a necessary evil? Or just evil? Everyone's turning to me for the answer. I wish I knew it...
1. Chapter 1

The next day was rainy, just like the last one. Every day was rainy and humid on this God-forsaken planet.

A plain wooden table sitting in the center of the one-room wooden shack was its only defining feature, besides a bag in the corner containing some assorted rations. The blue-feathered male falcon sitting at one end of the table rose and angrily slammed a palm on the table.

"I'm done waiting in this hellhole! We've been here for two and a half days watching paint dry while we wait for Peppy to get back to us with word from the government. How do we know Peppy's not already dead and we're just waiting for the president's goons to come kill us? This is ridiculous!" The blue falcon exclaimed to his partner. The partner, an orange male fox sitting adjacent to him at the table, spoke sternly to his ally.

"Falco, will you chill out for just a second? I know we've been waiting in this swamp...jungle...whatever this place is for a while, but we need to trust Peppy, alright? And we're watching around the clock in case anyone finds us. Right, Slippy?" He called to a third person. When no reply came, he frustratedly rose to go see what was keeping his coworker from responding, but found himself stopped by a gesture from his avian partner.

"Relax, Fox. I'll see what's with Slip. You stay here and do your hero stuff." He said before passing through the door. Outside, he found Slippy: a green male frog. He was fast asleep holding his combat rifle. Falco walked up and hit the young amphibian over the back of the head, abruptly waking him from whatever pleasant dreams he might have been having.

"I know you're right at home in this rainy, damp hell, but try to stay awake when you're on guard duty, yeah, Slip?" He sarcastically remarked to his freshly roused partner, who now attempted to utter an excuse for his sleeping on the job.

"Falco! Sorry, I...I guess I-"

"You've been out here watchin' a whole lot of nothing for a while. Why don't ya go in and chill with Fox? I'll take over watchin' out here."

"R...really? Gee, thanks, Falco." He said surprisedly before handing over the rifle and heading inside. Falco sat down in the plain wooden chair with the weapon and started to observe every detail of the surrounding foliage...again. He had looked at this same foliage a dozen times since they'd been hiding here, every single time he'd been on guard duty. When they'd first arrived, he had thought the planet was pretty beautiful, until he'd had to live on the wilder parts of the surface. Now he personally thought this place was the heart of all darkness. Although the fight they'd have on their hands if they had to fight through Venomian soldiers to the capitol were going to put this to shame. Nature never did hurt anyone that wasn't asking for it. People weren't so nice. He spent the next few minutes sitting around listening to Fox and a still lethargic Slippy conversing inside. Fox complained about a hole in the roof, and Slippy said he was starting to sound more like Falco.

"Hey, I heard that, Slippy! Don't forget who's watchin' your back next time you fall asleep on guard duty!" He retorted. He turned back to his jungle dominion when he suddenly noticed something. A bush, flattened, not enough to seem conspicuous but for the fact that Falco had been staring at this particular patch of jungle for the last few days. He knew it shouldn't be that way. Not wanting to alert the others, Falco rose from his chair and stalked towards the bush in question. Just in case he ran into trouble, he made sure the safety catch on his rifle was off.

When he came to the bush, he realized there was a trail of crushed vegetation leading back into the jungle. A pretty amateur scout to leave such a conspicuous trail. Falco didn't see any reason to alert the others. He would follow it back a little ways, just to see if there was any action to be had, then go back and get them if it was going to be a long trek. He began along the trail, trying to make as little noise as possible. He followed the trail of crushed leafery until he found what he was looking for: a thick bush, untouched, at the end of the path. The bush was thick enough to hide a person behind it. He slyly crept up to it and eased the barrel of his rifle against the bush.

"Come on out, little Venom scout. I've got you." He warned. When there was no response, he crashed through the bush, finding to his surprise that there was no one behind it. He came through into a clearing on the other side. He looked around in confusion. That bush was the end of the trail. Which meant if there was no one hiding there, then he had...

Falco's thought process was interrupted by a foot connecting with his face. He flew to the ground, as did his rifle. Assessing that he didn't have time to go for it, the bird rose in a defensive position. The person who attacked him was wearing a veil or scarf or something, so he couldn't see their face. But from what he could tell, they were a feline with pink fur, and a woman. She had a pretty good body, too. Shaking his head to clear it of his distractions, he was almost too late to avoid her initial right hook. She seemed to be coming at him with the right fist a lot, which meant she was probing to open him up for her left fist, where she'd pack most of her power. All he had to do was wait for that, then counter and get in one good hit, then she should be taken care of. He waited until he finally saw it. She was preparing to swing with her left fist, and he prepared his counterattack.

He found himself interrupted by something sweeping his legs out from under him. He hit the ground again. She had leg swept him while he focused on her fist attacks! It was a chump mistake. She advanced on him and prepared to follow up, but now it was his turn to take her off guard. Grabbing a nearby branch, he took her legs out from under her, sending her to the ground just as he recovered. He raised the branch over his head, preparing to knock her out with it. But she recovered faster than he had expected. She extended her foot, kicking him hard in the 'family jewels'. Falco yelped in intense pain, dropped his branch and stumbled back against a tree. As his foe climbed back to her feet, he noticed her scarf was gone. As he had assumed, she was a female feline. And she was really quite beautiful. Her legs were...

He realized he was getting distracted again. He noticed she looked somewhat familiar, however. The falcon then shook it off and took up his fighting stance once more. The two anonymous foes, bird and cat, man and woman, squared off in the clearing once more. This time, he made the first move. He approached with a straight kick, using the opening following her block to enter and throw a right hook. As expected, she blocked, but he was a step ahead. He grabbed her wrist and attempted to spin her into an armbar, but she was a step ahead. She used his momentum to continue through the spin and flipped him onto the ground. She came around and knelt over him as she took out a previously concealed knife and held it to his throat.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded. Falco remained silent. "I know you. You're Falco Lombardi. Small galaxy." She said. Falco looked at her confusedly. Then, all of a sudden, the answer hit him. She was Catherine "Katt" Monroe. They had gone to high school together. She was the daughter of a powerful businessman on their home planet of Zoness, and had been raised from birth to be successful. She was the valedictorian from their high school. She had been planning to attend a prestigious university on Corneria. He could only assume the war had put an end to that.

"Katt Monroe. I'm finally good enough for you to talk to me. Are all of your prep friends commandos here, too?" He asked. Catherine smiled coyly at the mercenary.

"You were such a bad boy in high school. But now I've beaten you in a fist fight, too. I bet you can't beat me in one of my strong fields."

"Yeah yeah, Katt's so successful. Katt's gonna be famous one day. I remember. I never talked to you much, and now I don't think I regret that much. But I've got somethin' to tell you, Kitty-Katt."

"And what's that?"

"I've had a gun pointed at your gut for the last two minutes." He stated plainly. She looked down in shock to see that he indeed had a sidearm pulled from his belt pointed at her stomach. In the moment of shock, Falco swept her knife-holding arm away and flipped the feline over. He rose to his feet and pointed his firearm at his enemy.

"You shoulda stayed in law school. I guess I'll be the one to show ya how dangerous this place can be." He was preparing to interrogate her when she began to talk on her own.

"You're here to talk about an alliance with President Norman, aren't you? You sent your older friend, and you and your partners are hiding out here as an insurance policy, am I right?" She said. Falco said nothing, but was curious as to how she knew so much about what was going on.

"It was a set-up, Lombardi. President Norman's already got an alliance with Andross' Venomian forces. The first troops from this planet are shipping out to join the war front in a week. When your friend, the hare, arrived to try and talk politics, they betrayed and captured him. But my people freed him. He's on his way to join your team now."

"And who are your people? Why the hell would they free Peppy from the planetary government?"

"When Andross' forces attacked Zoness, they obliterated our home. They killed a lot of people in our hometown, Lombardi. You saw the ruins, didn't you? Didn't you?" Falco said nothing. "Most of my family was safe, but I couldn't let them continue. I came to this planet and got contacted by a group trying to rise up against Andross and his allies. And that means getting rid of President Norman here. We can help you. But you have to let me go."

"I'm a mercenary, Monroe. I follow the paycheck. How do I know what you're saying is going to pay off?"

"Trust me. I'm the smart one, remember? Go to your people, Lombardi. You'll be able to find us. I believe in you." With that, Monroe rose and dashed into the foliage unopposed by the avian, just as Fox burst into the clearing from the opposite direction.

"Falco, what the hell are you doing out here? Peppy's here. He says he has something to tell us. And that it's not good."

"I know what it is."

"What? You do? How?"

"Don't worry. We'll have help. We'll always have help."


	2. Chapter 2

The setting sun smiled on the foreign friends as they trudged back towards the base.

Their arrival was greeted by two familiar faces. One of them was Slippy, their third counterpart from earlier. The other was an aging hare, looking at a glance to be about forty, and with a glow of experience that illuminated the whole room. He had a stark military look about him, and clearly was the most experienced of the quartet. He wore a nice suit riddled with scorch marks presumably caused by blaster fire. He had worn the suit for the negotiations with the planet's president, Carl Norman, but obviously, the negotiations had gone sour. Katt Monroe's words came back to Falco. It appeared her appraisal of the situation had been correct.

"Now Peppy, explain again what happened." Requested Fox calmly.

"I showed up at the presidential palace and met with Norman. Everything went as planned, until we came to his office. When we went in, there was a Venomian officer already sitting there. He looked familiar. I believe it was Colonel Grath, from the Aquas campaign." This intelligence was met with grim nods of understanding as Slippy documented the name on a small notepad for further research. Venomian presence on the planet would make it that much harder to escape, let alone do anything about claiming the planet. Once those assembled had contemplated this for a moment, the team's elder member continued. "They took me to a shuttle; the Venomian officer told me they were going to take me to an orbiting Venomian vessel and interrogate me to find out where you were hiding."

"How did you get free?" Asked Slippy curiously.

"He got freed by a rebel faction operating here on the planet. They sent him back to us to tell us they want to make an alliance." Said Falco, garnering confused looks from his teammates, most of all Peppy.

"That's right. A rebel named Silas Mansen freed me. Would you mind explaining to us how you know so much all of a sudden, Falco?" Demanded Peppy.

"When I was on guard duty just before you showed up, I tracked what I thought was an enemy scout into the jungle. She turned out to be an old acquaintance of mine. She's working with a group of rebels. She explained what happened to me, said we needed to team up, then left."

"Did she tell you where to meet up with them?"

"Nah."

"Alright, then we're ditching this shack and heading west."

"Now wait a minute Peppy." Interrupted Fox. "How do you know we can find these people in the west?"

"On my way down in the shuttle, I spotted an abandoned rock quarry a few days trek to the west of here."

"Woah woah, wait, you came down here in the shuttle? Then how come we're walkin'?" Asked Falco skeptically. Peppy looked at the three faces expecting his answer with tangible embarrassment.

"I crashed it, alright? It was a cheap Venom-manufactured piece of junk. The navigation system wouldn't respond properly!" The sight of the older hare frantically defending himself was really quite comical. His three teammates began to crack up.

"Great, the team's veteran pilot crashed his shuttle." Cracked Falco. Peppy shot him a glare before quickly changing the subject.

"Alright, I know it's funny and all, but we need to get going if we're going to get a good lead on Norman's people. Rest assured, if we stay put, they will find us. Now let's move out." The air of seriousness returned as the four grabbed their packs and scurried out the door. As they left the clearing and headed west, Falco took one last look back at the dilapidated wooden shack. It wasn't the most comfortable of arrangements, but Falco couldn't shake the feeling that it was a lot safer there than whatever was waiting for them where they were going.

Turning his eyes forward, his thoughts reached back to Katt Monroe in that clearing. What were the odds that someone from his past would turn up here, on this mission, on this Godforsaken planet? Not high. He hadn't seen Katt since the old days, growing up on Zoness.

#################################

"Mr. Lombardi, would you wake up, please?" The annoying voice pierced the young falcon's sensitive ears.

"What for?" Came the groggy reply.

"We are reviewing the concepts from the chapter. Can you give me an integral for this value and graph it?" She asked, pointing to a complex number value on the board. After staring at the problem for a moment, the avian replied "sure" and approached the board, looking first around at his class. They all looked coyly at him. A kid from the slums in the advanced calculus class? Most of them must have thought he was a total joke. True, he was no genius, but he did know his stuff better than anyone gave him credit for. After standing for a moment, he began working, as fellow students sniggered at his back. Their faces slowly turned to ones of mild surprise, however, as he slowly churned out the correct solution to the problem. At length, however, he stopped.

Falco looked in frustration at the problem. He had hit a part of the problem he had no idea how to solve. Embarrassed, he turned and looked around at the class. However, just as he was preparing to admit he didn't know how to go any further, and the teacher prepared to promptly send him back to his seat, Falco's eyes zeroed in on one particular student: Randy. The hound was mouthing something to him. A numerical value. Curious, Falco turned around and plugged the value into the equation. It worked! Falco confidently finished the final stages of the teacher's challenge, then immediately turned around and returned to his desk, where he sat down with a confident smirk on his face. After examining the work and the solution, the teacher glared at Falco as she begrudgingly ground out the words Falco awaited.

"That is correct, Mr. Lombardi. It seems my efforts with you are not entirely wasted. I'm glad you were able to solve the _first_ problem from tonight's homework." She said, causing Falco's smirk to slowly fade from his face. "I apologize for the length of the assignment, but this part of the unit is one of the most often failed parts in all my years as a teacher. I want to make sure-"

"Done." Interrupted a student. The teacher, thoroughly shocked, looked at the student in question. She was a pink-furred young cat, and quite beautiful. She was elegantly dressed, sitting in her seat with legs crossed, her narrow, feline eyes looking back at the teacher through a small pair of glasses. Every ounce of her delicate body radiated nobility. She was the daughter of John Monroe, and heiress to the Monroe Corporation: Catherine Monroe.

"Katt, do you mean done with the entire assignment?"

"Yes, Ms. Lectus."

"Well...excellent, then. I expect the rest of you to return with it done tomorrow. Get to work."

After class, Falco caught up with Randy on the way to the cafeteria.

'Yo, Randy. Thanks for the save with Lectus today."

"No problem, man. That homework was not fun, I'll tell you what."

"You already finished it?"

"Right as the bell rang."

"So not as fast as that Katt Monroe, then? I thought you were supposed to be some kind of genius?"

"Other people say that. But that Monroe is on a whole other level from me." Explained Randy. Falco nodded in understanding.

"She's hot, too. I can't believe you haven't tried to make a move on her. She seems right up your alley."

"Evil heiress to a giant galactic corporation? No thanks. She'd probably bite it off, to be honest." He said. Randy chuckled. Falco was known for his way with the women. No one could imagine him being afraid of one. Falco didn't think he could be, either, and that made him all the more worried as to what that chick was all about.

"Well, whatever. You coming to Ramone's tonight with all of us?"

"I don't know. My parents are kinda iffy about me with some of the guys, but I should be fine. See ya there, hopefully.

"Alright, see ya there."

#####################

The group had been trudging for nearly two days now. Peppy estimated it would be another day before they got to the quarry, but Falco was dead tired already. He was just getting ready to voice his complaint when a rustling was heard in the bushes up ahead. The four all trained their weapons on the foliage for several minutes, during which the air felt like lead from the tension. Finally, a distinctly accented voice rang from the bushes.

"Don't shoot!"

"Show yourself!" Ordered Peppy. "Come out slowly with your hands in the air!" Little by little, the bushes' occupant came into view. He was a wolf, probably several years older than Falco, Fox, and Slippy, but not as old as Peppy. As he stepped forward with his hands in the air, more details could be determined about his appearance. He was muscular, bearing the build of a soldier, and sported a scar vertically crossing his left eye, which was covered by a black cloth eyepatch.

"Please, my name is Wolf O'Donnell. I'm here on behalf of Silas Mansen. You're Peppy Hare's squadron, correct? Silas sent me here to bring you in. I'm one of the good guys."


	3. Chapter 3

"It should only be around twelve hours' trip from here." Said Wolf.

"And where is the base, exactly?" Inquired Fox.

"Oh, it's in those hills, north of the stone quarry." Replied the monocular lupine, pointing to the hills, which were only just visible through the trees from where they were.

As the group walked, Wolf found himself walking next to Fox."So, you're the son of James McCloud?" He asked curiously. Fox winced at the question, but ultimately nodded and responded with a curt 'yep'. "I don't believe it. I trained under him, you know, when I was a trainee in the Cornerian Airborne Special Forces. He was every bit the legend they said he was. I'm sorry about what happened to him, but I think he'd be proud to have a son fighting for such a noble cause."

"Thanks." Said Fox, smiling, although the smile appeared less than genuine. "Say," he continued, "Have you rebels on the planet seen this guy?" He said, producing a section torn out of a photograph from inside his vest and showing it to Wolf. O'Donnell's eye narrowed for a moment, as if he may recognize the man in the picture.

"No, I'm afraid I've never seen him." Came the reply. "So sorry. I wish I could help you. Who is he?" Fox placed the photograph back inside his vest as they continued on.

"Well, it's a long story. He-" Fox was interrupted by a huge shape lunging from the bushes and tackling the vulpid into a nearby tree. Fox tried to scramble back towards the group, but the monster sunk its teeth into his combat vest and started to drag him away. Falco managed to get a good look at it as he and the three others dashed after the two figures. It was cat-like, with monstrous fangs, twice the size of normal wild feline teeth. Fox was lucky the combat vests they wore were thick as hell, otherwise he'd probably have two most likely poisonous fangs in his shoulder. The creature was built more like a snake than a cat, actually. It's body was long and muscled, and it seemed to be capable of moving at amazing speeds, as it seemed to be getting away from them even while carrying Fox.

"Fox! Fox!" Falco cried out desperately. But it was no use - Fox was gone. Falco stared blankly at the bushes ahead of him in disbelief as the others caught up to him. "He's gone." Said the bird blankly.

"Wait, I've got the tracker!" Said Slippy. Falco's hope returned as he remembered. Slippy had each of them swallow a transmitter thing before the mission so they could find each other!

"Slip, you're a genius! Where's the thing?"

"It's right here!" Said the technician, digging a device out of his pack. It was a tiny device, probably the kind that only Slippy knew the first thing about. The frog stared at it for a few seconds, then pointed in a direction, indicating Fox had been taken that way. Before he had even returned the device to his pack, Peppy, Falco, and Wolf had taken off.

...

Falco gaped at the scene before him. They had found Fox alive and in one piece, but there were a few kinks in their plan to recapture him. For one thing, the animal that had taken him had friends, and the four creatures were lounging about with no signs of leaving. Since it seemed unlikely that they would be able to take on all four creatures without sustaining some casualties of their own, the four fighters figured they would be better off recapturing Fox discreetly. This was difficult as well, however, due to the fact that Fox was in a hollow beneath a large tree in the middle of an otherwise empty clearing. It also didn't help that Fox was unconscious.

"Alright, how are we gettin' him out of there?" Asked Falco. Fox was usually the one who took charge and made plans on the spot.

"If you all can provide a distraction, I'll slip up from behind and try to grab him out of there." Suggested Wolf.

"Wolf, that's suicidal." Replied Slippy. "If you get caught, there's no way we can guarantee that you and Fox won't both get eaten."

"Well we have to try something. It may not be long before they eat him! We can't just sit here and watch!" Argued the lupine. At last, the others were forced to agree, and Wolf slowly stalked away from the group, who looked at each other, silently confirming what each of them knew 'distraction' meant.

...

Wolf did his best to avoid any unnecessary noise as he crept up to the side of the clearing not being watched by the humongous cats. Holding his breath, he forced himself to move into the clearing, step by painstaking step. It seemed like hours he spent slipping toward the tree, careful to avoid the watchful ears of the beasts. Suddenly, the sound of blaster fire and yelling was heard from the opposite side of the clearing, causing Wolf to nearly bolt before he saw the beasts take off in the other direction. This was his chance! He dashed towards the hollow and quickly grabbed the unconscious Fox. The mercenary was lighter than he appeared, so Wolf had a comparatively easy time hoisting him on his shoulders and making off for the woods. Just as he was almost into the brush, however, he heard a noise across the clearing. Wasting no time to look, Wolf ran, desperate to escape the lone cat that had returned separate from the group and now gave chase to the two.

...

"Well, I'll be damned if this isn't the most fucking terrific idea I've ever heard." Muttered Falco as he walked straight out of the woods directly into the group of wild cats. For several tense moments, the four creatures just stared in surprise at the guest until at last, one of them moved, prompting the avian to spring to life. In the blink of an eye, Falco's blaster pistol was in his hand, the bird unloading laser blasts at the creatures as he ran frantically back to the woods. The four predators pursued, only to find themselves met with even more blaster fire from Slippy and Peppy. It seemed like forever to Falco that he ran from the creatures, who seemed to be able to avoid the majority of his blaster fire. He couldn't exactly see Slippy or Peppy, but they couldn't be far, since he could hear blaster fire from not far off. After running for quite a while, he finally jumped into a tree, hoping he could be safe for at least a few moments. His hopes were dashed, however, as one of the cats leapt after him and began to climb the tree. In a moment, it would be within range to slash him to pieces. Desperate, Falco scrambled on small branches, trying to gain just enough distance to reach a thick branch just inches out of his reach. Just when he was sure the creature was on him, he managed to grab it and pull himself up. Looking down, he recoiled at the vile appearance of the monster struggling towards him, fury and hunger in its eyes. Breathing a premature sign of relief, he quickly leveled his pistol with its forehead and pulled the trigger. Unable to dodge, the creature fell from the tree and hit the ground with a crack, dead. The other that stood at the base of the tree backed away and finally fled at the sight of its dead partner.

Falco laid back against the trunk of the tree and began to laugh hysterically, unable to believe how close he had been to death. Boy, what a rush. After a minute of relaxing, he finally descended the tree and set to searching for the others. The fact that he no longer heard their blasters either meant the best or the worst, but he couldn't dwell on it for the moment. He was just reloading his pistol when a rustling in the bushes caught his attention. Remembering where he ended up last time he followed rustling bushes, Falco dove behind the nearest tree and trained his weapon on the foliage in question. After a moment, however, Slippy came running forward, clearly on guard, but apparently having shaken his pursuer.

"Slip!" Shouted Falco from behind the tree, not wanting Slippy to panic and shoot him by accident. Slippy shouted in surprise as he faced the tree and Falco slowly came from behind it.

"Falco! Where did you go! Where's Peppy?" Inquired the relieved amphibian.

"I was fightin' those things off! As for Peppy, I don't know. We all got separated in that chase. Can't you find him with that tracker thing?"

"Yeah." He produced the device and pressed a few buttons. "He's alive, at least. He's this way. Let's just hope Fox and Wolf are alright."

...

This was a bad situation. One of the cat creatures had broken off from chasing the others and was on Wolf's tail. It didn't help that he was carrying an unconscious man. Wolf was no newcomer to woods survival; he knew where to take a few surprise turns to buy some time, but as long as he was carrying Fox, there was no way he could outrun that thing. Finally, he set Fox down gently and decided to take a chance. His hand went to his knife - if the creature was coming the way he expected, he wouldn't have room to fire off enough round in time. He would have to take it down the old fashioned way. Seconds went by like weeks as he waited for the killer to reveal itself. When the attack finally came, it was fast as lightning. By the time he realized the animal was there, it was in the air with it claws bared at him. Wolf ducked in the nick of time and managed to flip it over, attempting to pin it with his weight and get a kill. But he underestimated the creature's agility. Slipping out from under him, the cat used its tail to knock Wolf off his feet and leap on him. Wolf countered one of its claws with his knife, and grabbed the other paw with his bare hand, trying to hold his foe back with sheer strength. But it was a losing battle, and soon Wolf would be worn down. The warrior began to resign himself to the end.

The sound of a laser blast interrupted his thoughts. The blast hit the creature in the side, sending it toppling over and crying out in pain. Wolf stood up to see Peppy holding his rifle with a grim look on his face. The injured creature gave a horrible snarl as it attempted even with its injury to make one last attack, but the sound of another shot from Peppy's weapon ended the hunter's life for good. Wolf took a moment to catch his breath before regarding Peppy.

"Thank you, Peppy. I don't think I would have lasted...much..." Wolf trailed off when he noticed Peppy was not paying attention to him but attending to Fox. Just as he went to join the veteran hare, Fox began to sputter.

"Fox! You alright?" Cried Peppy.

"Yeah, I think so." He coughed. "I don't think anything's broken."

"Good. Then we wait for Slippy and Falco to find us and we'll be off again."

...

Several hours later, the group was on their way and making progress once again. When nightfall hit, they decided to make camp in another clearing they found. They made a small fire in order to cook and stay warm against the cold night. The day's events had exhausted everyone, especially since each of them had come within inches of death today. As they sat preparing to sleep, Fox approached Wolf.

"Hey, Wolf. I know you're only here to get us to the rebels, but thanks for everything you did today. If not for you, I'd probably be dead."

"Don't mention it, Fox. Getting your help is important to Silas. Getting you there is my responsibility. Besides you'd have done the same if it were me."

"Thanks." Repeated Fox as they both got up to go to their sleeping spots. En route to his spot, however, Wolf heard a familiar click behind his head and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wolf O'Donnell." Said Peppy clearly, keeping a firm grip on the blaster he had aimed at the lupine's head,

"Woah, Peppy, what are you doing?" Cried Fox, as the he and the others rose in alarm.

"Where are you really taking us?" Demanded Peppy, ignoring his teammates.

"Peppy, I don't know what you're talking about. Please, stop this." Pleaded Wolf.

"Cut the crap. Silas Mansen told me that he would meet us near the rock quarry when he rescued me. That's where we were supposed to find him. But you've been leading us in a whole other direction. So tell me: where are you really taking us?" He asked one final time. Wolf began to chuckle darkly, adopting a much different mood than they had seen so far.

"We're already there." He said evilly.


End file.
